One Extraordinary Day
by Lady Detective
Summary: After unexpectedly falling through a portal, Emma once again finds herself trapped in the Enchanted Forest. This time, though, Regina is stuck with her, and things aren't quite what they seem. Finding the way home will also require finding new perspectives-and uncovering some long hidden secrets. Set directly after 2.11; the beginnings of Swan Queen.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **I would like to apologize in advance, which I realize is not a great way to start, but between only starting the show recently, the frequent flashbacks, and constant tumblr stream, I have almost no idea what happens when and who knows what. So for the purposes of this story, assume that Emma knows next to nothing about Regina's past. Also, a slight alteration—Archie is alive and Regina finds out and comes out of hiding before Cora pulls her back in.

As always, I own nothing.

* * *

"Regina, where the hell are we?"

It was a valid enough question. They had been standing in the Sheriff's station, arguing, as per usual, when the floor had begun to vibrate. Undulate, really, glowing green as the tiles turned into shimmering liquid, beginning to swirl, picking up velocity, when as soon as they realized that this, whatever this was, was not something they wanted to be around, they had already started to fall, the floor beneath their feet giving way to the magic.

In no time, or in all the time, or however you quantify time when you're hurdling through space, they had landed in a heap in a field, jumbled from the unexpected fall and the echoes of magic quivering through their systems.

Regina looked up from the ground and took stock of the situation. Lush green bordered by dense forest, rolling hills, and in the distance, a shining beacon of a castle. She recognized it all instantly.

"It appears that we are in the Enchanted Forest, Miss Swan."

Emma, who had been brushing herself off in preparation of standing, froze slack-jawed. She couldn't be back. She refused. Not when she had just returned to Henry, not after days and days of giants and ogres and no running water and her gun not being of any use. She wanted to cry. But in the storm of her thoughts, she caught Regina's pensive look and anchored herself to it. Something wasn't right. She took her own time to clear her head, observe, assess the situation. The flora was right from what she remembered, but it was too…cheery. There were fields and orchards filled with food. The castle was in perfect condition. This wasn't right. This wasn't the land she had just come from—well, it was, but how could things have changed so quickly for the better?

Regina was standing still, eyes fixed on the castle in the distance, but her look was not one of memory but of fear. Regina, afraid? It still wasn't a look the Sheriff was used to seeing, and it made her nervous. Was it just because she had been torn away from Henry without warning? Because she knew of how difficult it had been for Emma and Snow to get back the first time? But no, it didn't make sense. Sure she could be a little afraid, but this is Regina, she should be furious, somehow blaming it on Emma, storming off to wherever she thought she could find a solution to their situation, fighting tooth and nail for what she wanted. She shouldn't be standing stock still in a field, looking afraid, shocked even, like what was in front of her couldn't possibly be real.

Emma stood up. Getting home was worrisome, but right now, Regina was downright terrifying. Something was going on, and while their relationship was hardly one of comfort and understanding, Emma knew she would have no chance of getting back to her son unless the formidable bitch she was used to made a return.

"Regina, do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Emma's words broke her out of her daze, but her eyes were still focused on the imposing building in the distance. She knew she should be formulating some sort of pithy response, a snide remark with a "Miss Swan" added on for kicks, making a plan for how to get back, but her brain was just barely processing the information quick enough and her thoughts came tumbling out unformed.

"Portals must have some sort of after-effect in our world, maybe because the magic is different, maybe because the protection for the town was pierced by it, but there seems to have been some lingering after energy from the portal you threw the wraith through. Perhaps our confrontation in your office triggered it, but it opened. We fell through."

"Yeah, Regina, I think I got that part." Emma's irritation was rising to the surface, still pissed that she unwittingly fell through another portal, the same one really, that Regina was mumbling on about the obvious, and that she couldn't get the Mayor to snap out of it so they could do something about it. "So why exactly does it look so different, and how the hell do we get back? Do we find where we opened the portal over here and argue over it again? Can't you just magic us back? Don't you have some sort of plan, Madam Mayor?" Emma couldn't tell if it was her own anger that brought out the harshness in her questions or whether she was trying to provoke a response from Regina, which generally was as smart as poking a bear. But then she must be a masochist because for some reason, riling up the Evil Queen was one of her favorite pastimes.

However, her words hadn't had even a little effect. Regina seemed to barely notice she was there, and as Emma walked over to see what exactly she was staring at, she saw a long line of little carriages glimmering in the distance as they pulled up to the castle gates.

Still getting no reaction from the brunette at her side, Emma did something she wouldn't dream of in Storybrooke. She grabbed Regina by the shoulders and turned her so they were face to face.

"Regina, if you don't tell me what the fuck is going on, I swear to God, I'll leave you here and go to find home and Henry alone."

Emma cheered inwardly for a brief moment when she saw pure fire flash in deep brown eyes, but it died out when she realized that Regina had made no effort to move from her grasp, hadn't thrown her 15 feet, hadn't slapped her across the face, nothing. Just stared as her lips opened slowly and the queen quietly began to speak. There was a bit of bite to her words, but her heart wasn't in it. Her mind was elsewhere than with the blonde who had the gall to manhandle her into focusing.

"It wasn't a normal portal. Just remnants of it. It transported us, in space, between worlds, yes. We are in the Enchanted Forest, but it is not the Forest you were in. We were also transported through time. This is the Enchanted Forest of the past.

"This is the Enchanted Forest on my wedding day."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **An incredibly speedy update for me in honor of show night. Enjoy!

* * *

"Your wedding day?"

For the second time in as many minutes Emma's incredulous voice pulled her out of her head. But this time, the haze had cleared entirely for her. Saying it out loud made it real, and all that was left of her confusion and dismay was a simmering rage.

"Yes, Miss Swan, my wedding day," she spat as she knocked Emma's hands from where they still sat atop her shoulders. "To become an evil stepmother one typically has to marry someone's father."

So, Mayor Mills was back. The emotions that had so readily flowed across her face before were once again hidden behind her annoyance. Emma was somewhat relieved. This Regina she was used to. This Regina she knew how to deal with. Though she had felt somewhat drawn by the storm underneath the surface, which in itself was frightening. Emma was by no means a comforter by nature—so why would she feel compelled to help the Evil Queen, of all people?

These thoughts were soon pushed aside by the reality of their situation, and her desperate need to get back home. Enchanted Forest was still Enchanted Forest no matter the timeline, and Emma had had quite enough of it.

"Well, as much as I'd love to stay to celebrate your special day, I don't want to be here, and you clearly don't want to be here, so how do we get back?" Emma threw back her response, drawing on anger to boost her energy, praying to whatever deity that she wouldn't be stuck here with Regina and the solution wouldn't require as much as last time. Though, on that, she realized they could theoretically do the same thing, seeing as it hadn't happened yet, and another wave of tension rolled through her body. "I swear to God, if I have to climb another beanstalk…"

She was cut off by a huff. Emma hadn't realized how her sarcasm about the day actually managed to hit the target, and Regina wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

"No, no beanstalks. Too long, too far away. I will not tolerate being here a with you a second longer than necessary, Miss Swan." She wanted to rage, to conjure things just to throw them, to threaten Emma with her life, but she was still fighting for Henry. Fighting to be good. Funny that the girl in the castle should be fighting the same fight.

"Good, we're agreed." Suddenly Emma found her self in no mood to deal with this side of the Queen. All the posturing meant precious time wasting away. Time that would leave Cora unchallenged in Storybrooke…

"Oh my God, Henry. Regina!" Emma was frantic. "We have to get back! Your mother!"

Though she automatically felt her heart beat rise at the thought of Henry in danger from the one person she still feared, Regina tried to rationalize.

"We shouldn't have to worry. Since we have traveled in time, we should be able to travel back to the moment we left, with no continuation of the present in our absence. She won't be left alone in Storybrooke. Henry will be safe."

Emma knew that if anyone could worry more about Henry than she did, it was his mother. So she decided to trust Regina's logic, and tried to calm herself, though considering she was still stuck where she had no desire to be, that was easier said than done.

"Okay. So he'll be fine." She looked at Regina for confirmation. "But we still don't want to be here, and there won't be any beanstalks involved. So what's the plan?"

Regina seriously considered the possible options. She knew the magic available in this world quite well, but not at this time. And there was no telling whether their interacting with the people of her world wouldn't change the course of events for the young soon-to-be queen. As tempting as that was, Regina couldn't risk that it might be for the worse—or that it might mean truly losing Henry. That left only one option.

"If we open a typical portal, we should be able to travel back to Storybrooke and to the present with the help of some magic, though it's no guarantee. My mother had a, well, a means of travel in her collection—in case of emergencies, if you will. We will have to go to the castle and find it."

Emma's response was delayed only by sheer shock.

"Your mother?! Regina, she tried to rip my heart out! I don't think she's gonna let us walk right in and take her own escape hatch!" This was going to be so much worse than a little beanstalk and a giant.

Knowing that Regina also regarded her mother as a threat, which was certainly something that she did not take lightly, Emma was bewildered when the Mayor didn't even tense at the thought of stealing something from the powerful witch but just responded coolly.

"Don't worry. She won't pose a problem for us much longer."

Emma didn't miss the resignation in Regina's voice and marveled at the relationship this woman had with her unmistakably sociopathic mother. What was even more confusing was since Cora was still clearly alive and kicking, or more accurately, grabbing, in what was now the future, how could she possibly not be a problem? But if there was anything she had learned from this messed up world of magic, it was to never rule anything out. And Regina soon found herself drawing on the same observation when she realized what exactly had come out of Emma's mouth.

"Wait. She _tried_?"

"Yes, she _tried_, what does it matter if we don't have to worry about her anyway?"

"Miss Swan, my mother does not try. She does. Whatever she wants, she gets." Regina's dark seriousness had Emma's superpower at full throttle. She was telling the absolute truth. There had to be so much behind those few words. Emma had certainly gotten the sense during her interactions with the woman that growing up with Cora was no picnic. But she assumed that the evil had just been passed down from mother to daughter much like queen's dark coloring and dramatic flair. Regina's seriousness had her doubting that and sincerely wondering what it had been like.

With that realization, she willed the edge off her words and tried to describe what had happened without the usual sneer she reserved for her conversations with the queen, especially since she had been amazed at the occurrence herself and was interested to see what explanation Regina could put forth.

"I don't know how it happened, really. She reached her hand into my chest, and I could feel it, you know, and she wrapped her fingers around my heart and pulled, but it didn't work, and then there was this flash of light, and she was thrown back." Emma ran her fingers through her hair, not particularly enjoying the memory, but more thrown by Regina's expression of absolute awe. "Then we made our escape, and that was it."

Managing to close her mouth, Regina looked away and mumbled to herself more than anything else, "If love is weakness…"

"Regina?"

She realized Emma was waiting for a response. She would have to be much better at maintaining her walls because this little adventure was only going to get harder the closer they got to her past. She turned back to meet the blonde's questioning gaze.

"I've never seen anything beat my mother's magic, Miss Swan."

Increasingly uncomfortable with just about everything, Emma pushed forward, living on the hope that if and when they returned to Storybrooke, she could just lock herself in a room alone for awhile and ignore all of these crazy magic people.

"Well, you know, Savior, and all." She gestured to herself and let out a mirthless laugh as Regina rolled her eyes, and Emma was glad to leave this particular intense moment behind. "But if I don't have to worry about her reaching into my chest again, can we get a move on?"

"Are you an expert at breaking in to castles, Miss Swan? I don't remember seeing that on your criminal record. It does speak to your ability."

"Was that a compliment, Regina?"

"Yes, your illegal expertise amazes me."

"That is quite a compliment coming from the Evil Queen. No, I am not an expert in castle breaking and entering. I have never broken into a castle, because the only one I've been in technically was my home."

"Ah yes, of course. How gracious of you to admit a fault. But since you have no idea what you're doing, I don't suggest we charge in, guns a-blazing, Sheriff."

"No, Regina, I don't suppose that would be a great idea. So what do you have planned?"

Regina took a moment to consider the risks. Even with her mother out of the way, as hopefully she would be soon, there were a number of barriers to her and Emma's entrance.

"No one can see me, obviously, and there will be more people and guards about for the wedding than usual. If she's still around, my mother will be able to sense my magic, so we'll have to get a sense of how far along the day actually is first. If necessary, I can use just enough to glamour my face, but I would prefer not to risk it. We should find peasant clothes on the outskirts of town, for though you look appropriately garish, leather jackets are hardly suitable. Hopefully, we will be let in to the gates with the rest of the crowd waiting to glimpse the new queen. Once we are inside, I know the hidden passageways well enough, or we will know for sure that my mother will not interfere and I can transport us. We'll go from there."

"I happen to think you're glossing over the hard parts there, but whatever."

Regina was thoroughly agitated by just about everything having to do with the Sheriff. This day on its own would have been trying, but stuck with the blonde? She wasn't sure that even she deserved that kind of punishment.

"Do you happen to have a better idea, Sheriff? Because I would love to hear it."

"No, fine." Emma groaned inwardly. She had a feeling that this little adventure would provide an excellent lesson in picking one's battles. "Glossing is fine. Let's just get this over with."

"Let's. Follow me, Sheriff. We've got a while to walk before the village."


	3. Chapter 3

Most of their walk was spent in silence, each woman reflecting on the sobering reality of their situation. Emma had just gotten used to the idea that there were other worlds, let alone that she could be thrown into one at a moment's notice or that time could be involved. She had spent most of her life wishing for the stability of a family, and now that she had one, it was anything but stable. Going on yet another quest, with the Evil Queen, a woman who had tried to kill her, but not really, but then saved her from a death curse…it was all so tiring. Bantering with said Evil Queen had served to distract her for a while, but presently, she was no help, brooding in a manner that suited her title. Emma found it peculiar that any part of her would want to argue with the Mayor considering how infuriating it typically was, but Emma recognized that it could also be invigorating. Fighting with Regina was a sport—sometimes epee, sometimes boxing, sometimes cage wrestling, but always a challenge, and often rousing.

As soon as they could see the wisps of smoke rising from the village cottages, Regina broke her silence to stop them.

"We have to leave the path now. Even after I change my appearance, our clothes will draw attention." As she heard the wheels of a cart approaching, She grabbed Emma's arm and turned to the side, walking slightly down a hill that separated them from the town and around some low brush. They watched from their hideout as a villager passed by.

"Alright, fine," Emma muttered, removing her arm from the Mayor's somewhat surprisingly strong grasp. "Though my clothes weren't much of a problem the last time I was here."

Regina scoffed. "Miss Swan, your clothes are always a problem." Seeing that her insult had landed properly, she continued with a proper explanation, knowing the Sheriff would demand it.

"The last time you were here, you were fighting battles with some of the last survivors of my curse in the heart of the forest. Today is a royal wedding day. These people don't know anything of other realms. And we are attempting to sneak in to a castle. The more inconspicuous the better."

"Looks to me like you're the one with breaking and entering expertise." Emma rolled her eyes at Regina's glare. "Fine, you're right. How are we going to get our disguises without getting caught?'

"No washing machines, Miss Swan." Regina almost grimaced at the thought of what she was about to wear. "I'm sure we'll find something hanging in the back of one of these shacks."

She started to move before Emma stopped her. "Don't you have to put your face on first?" Emma smirked. This was not your average make up routine.

Regina rolled her eyes before accepting that the blonde was in fact right and checking once more to confirm that there was no one else around. She focused in, palms up and out, taking a deep breath before little puffs of purple smoke puttered out.

Something was wrong.

She couldn't sense anything in particular—nothing was interfering, as far as she could tell, and her mother's magic wasn't around. She then looked down at her hands, as if she could ascertain the problem from the surface. Seeing nothing and dismissing it as a misfire, she closed her eyes in concentration. The puffs were slightly bigger, but Regina's eyes snapped open, now looking quite frantic.

Emma was certain this was not good news.

"What's wrong?"

Regina was still staring at her hands as if somehow she could convince them of their betrayal.

"It's not working."

"What do you mean, it's not working?"

The inanity of the blonde's questioning turned her burgeoning panic into anger. "How could I possibly be more clear! It. Is. Not. Working. Not the way it should."

"At all? How?"

"I don't know! It's still there. I can feel it. It's just so much more primitive. It's a difficult spell, but I've been able to do it since…" Regina paused as the horrifying realization dawned on her. "I think I'm stuck with her magic."

"Whose?"

"Her! Me. Young me, whatever. She hasn't used it yet, not really."

Emma really shouldn't have been smiling, especially considering this setback would probably make getting home all that much more difficult, but she couldn't resist.

"So, you're like me then?"

Regina huffed, not enjoying the comparison. "Hardly. I know what I'm doing."

"You just can't do it." Emma's eyebrow quirked in response. She would have sworn she wasn't deliberately trying to tease Regina, it was just happening.

"Magic is not simplistic, Miss Swan. I still know the mechanics and I have the base material, but successful application takes work and practice. It's there. I—I just need time." Regina's confusion and irritation were quickly morphing into apprehension. It wasn't just about how the plan would now be much more difficult—she was losing her power, her one form of control; all on this day she needed it the most.

"Well, Regina, that's pretty much what we don't have. Are we stuck here until you figure this out?" The question was gentler than she intended maybe because she recognized the shift Regina was going through, but mostly because she couldn't stand waiting. Not when there was a goal to be achieved and a plan to do it with. She refused to be stuck here again.

On Emma's question, Regina refused to submit to this hiccup. She would get home where her magic would be fixed, even if she were no longer allowed to use it. "No. It will be fine. We'll keep going."

"And how exactly is that going to work? I'm assuming you still look like young you? Won't people notice their future queen wondering around?"

It was a legitimate question, but Regina was not about to be discouraged. Not again.

"Most of them don't know what I look like yet. It's not like there was an announcement in the Times. Once we're dressed the part, hopefully it will be enough of a distraction. We will simply have to be extra cautious."

"Okay," Emma agreed, bolstered by the stubborn queen's return to confidence. "We can do this." The affirmation was more for her than Regina as she popped up to peek over the hill to view the town. Sure enough, there was a house a few down that had skirts billowing off a line in the back. It was secluded enough once they got around back, but they'd have to make it past the main road unless they wanted to take the long way around. Emma motioned down to Regina to have her join her. As the women lay side by side on the grass, Emma was struck by how much it must look like they were playing some sort of war game, and how it definitely was good to have Regina on her team.

"You see that?" Emma indicated the yard she though was their best bet. Regina nodded in approval. "Do you think you can make a run for it?"

"I don't think we have another choice."

Emma stood up. "Well, let's see if sitting behind a desk for all of those years has had an effect on you, Madam Mayor," she teased. And with a smile, she took off in a sprint. She didn't know where the playfulness was coming from. But she was sure that Regina would be mad at being left behind and make up for it with extra speed. Sure enough, by the time Emma had reached the house, checking to make sure she hadn't been spotted and that Regina had followed, the former queen had come in right behind her, barefoot, with her heels in hand. The image was not one that Emma had ever expected to see, but she had to admit running barefoot through the fields suited the brunette. When she stopped, Emma could see the slight flush in her cheeks, even underneath the glare she was currently receiving. But then she noticed something else entirely.

"Regina, you're hurt."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

Emma had noticed blood pooling on the earth and walked around Regina to inspect her.

"Your feet! God, you walked all that way in your heels?" The visible damage wasn't too bad, scraped ankles mostly, but the thought of walking on that forest road in anything other than boots was making her own feet hurt.

"No, of course not, I traipsed through the road shoeless." Regina was oozing sarcasm. Really, this is what Emma was worried about? The state of her arches?

"Regina, seriously, that is ridiculous. Why didn't you say something?"

"It's nothing."

Emma knew this wasn't her being dismissive. It really was nothing. Not to Regina. Suddenly it hit Emma that of all the things Regina had complained about, and they had been many, pain had not once been one of them.

She started to wonder whether the most interesting character in Henry's book hadn't gotten her own story, or if she was just the most interesting because of it.

Regina had already moved on to inspecting the clothes on the line, pulling an outfit for herself before tossing one to Emma. Getting hit in the face with cloth brought her back to the fact that they were modern folk stealing clothes to keep hidden, and she should probably focus on the task at hand rather than her mysterious traveling companion. They changed like summer camp, backs turned, layers discretely replaced. It was oddly self-conscious, both for her, who had never worried much about this sort of thing and she assumed for Regina, who she would not put it past to use her body as a weapon in any form.

"How do I look?" She had kept as much of her own outfit as possible on, her boots still visible under the layers of skirts, and she knew she looked ridiculous as she smiled and twirled for Regina.

"Ah, peasant suits you quite nicely, Miss Swan."

Emma mirrored the mocking smile from Regina. "Yeah, probably better than Princess, anyway. You, on the other hand…"

Regina was finishing putting on a pair of work shoes she had found by the shed. They were too big, but she couldn't exactly wear her pumps with her new look. While her bearing was still that of a queen, she was covered head to toe in rags, with a large shawl draped over her head in an effort to cover her hair and at least part of her face. Yet another way Emma never imagined she'd see Regina.

Her smile dropped as she let out a low warning. "Not another word."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Emma's smile just grew with her response.

"Good. Let's go. We've still got awhile to the castle."

As Regina tucked her neatly folded clothes away in a stack of hay and lumbered off towards the road, Emma thought about calling out when she noticed a necklace hanging on the line where their new clothes had been. It was without a doubt Regina's, and while the former queen was somewhat surprisingly not much for jewelry, what she did wear was only the best.

If the Enchanted Forest valued it anything like their world did, that necklace would be closer to covering the cost of a new home than the rags they took.

"Miss Swan, any day now!"

Regina's voice shocked her out of her consideration. She shouted back, "Right behind you!" And with one last glance at the jewelry, she jogged after the woman who was most certainly growing more fascinating by the minute.


	4. Chapter 4

Their deep cover seemed to be working. No one was paying them much attention except in the way that uncivilized men do, and certainly no one noticed how the shyer traveler looked a lot like the soon-to-be queen. Everyone was bustling about with their own wedding day preparations, and Emma decided there was no reason this part of the walk should also be spent in silence.

"How did you get to marry the king?"

"Excuse me?" Regina threw her a confused but cautionary look. It didn't matter though. Something was up in this magical mystery land and Emma was feeling even braver than usual.

"How did you come to marry the king?"

Regina scoffed. "What do you care?" It wasn't even really a question, just a dismissal.

"C'mon, Regina, I'd like to know."

"I'm sure you would."

"Seriously, Regina, why not tell me?"

Regina so didn't want to be having this conversation, but she unfortunately knew that Emma tended to be as stubborn as she was when there was something she wanted. The childish questioning would persist until the blonde got answers or Regina got angry enough to lash out. Considering their mission, the former option was preferable. Still, Regina wasn't about to discuss her past with the Sheriff.

"There's a reason the villains don't get their own fairy tales, Miss Swan."

"Excuses. You're not a fairy tale, you're a person. Besides, evil's always the most interesting. Why do you think _Breaking Bad_'s so popular?"

"What?"

"Really? Look, I know you're not big on TV, or the world outside Storybrooke, but _Breaking Bad_?"

"Repeating it is not going to make me understand it, Miss Swan."

"Ugh, when we get back… Anyway, it's not important." Regina's hope of distracting the blonde from her initial line of questioning died as quickly as it had ignited. "I want to know how you became queen."

Realizing there really wasn't anyway around this, not without her magic or at least some duct tape, she answered with a sigh. "My mother accepted his proposal."

"Wait, for you? How…?" Realizing this was Cora they were talking about, and that was absolutely possible, Emma altered her question. "How did he even know you existed? Were you a princess from a foreign realm? You go to a ball with a glass slipper? You win some sort of contest for fairest in the land?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. She could go for the fact Emma was getting her fairy tales severely mixed up, or, she could go for something that might actually get a reaction from the blonde. She put on her lowest voice and looked over. "I'm the fairest in the land, am I?"

And it landed right as she expected. Emma's face instantly went rosy.

"You know what I mean. How did you meet him?"

Apparently Emma wasn't going to be thrown that easily. Regina should have expected it, but her unfortunate companion's insistence was still infuriating. Whatever patience she had was quickly disappearing.

"Miss Swan, this is really irritating."

"Oh, come on, I want to know the story. Complete the book. It's really too bad it doesn't chronicle all of your outfits." Emma was teasing, trying to get the surly brunette to loosen up, but she soon realized with horror that it was the second time she had commented on Regina's good looks in as many minutes.

"Now, Miss Swan, I know that you don't care about those outfits for the fashion."

Regina's voice was dripping with sensuality. She was a pro at this. And even behind layers of rags, Emma knew that it wouldn't take much to get any man—or woman for that matter—to do her bidding. And that was exactly what she was trying to do. Emma was the toy in her game. Though as much as she was starting to wonder about how far she'd go—to do what the queen asked, of course—she wasn't going to give up what she started.

"C'mon, Regina," she replied more steadily than she felt. "It's a joke. How did you meet the king?

Emma was aggravating beyond belief, but she was a worthy adversary. Regina really wasn't going to get out of this without telling at least some of the story.

"I rescued his daughter."

"His daughter. Snow White? You rescued …my mom?" Emma's brain kicked into high gear piecing together the parts of the story that she knew, trying to sort them in chronological order, make some sense of it all.

"Yes. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she didn't tell you."

"I mean, she sort of did, but why? What happened?"

"Miss Swan, I know you and my son believe otherwise, but I was not always the Evil Queen."

She didn't realize what she had said until it hung in the air. In an effort to hide one truth, she was revealing too much of another. She unclenched her fists and changed tactics. The story was safer. Maybe it would get Emma to shut up.

"Her horse got away from her. I caught up before she could be thrown."

Emma recognized she was getting into even more dangerous territory than usual, but it seemed Regina was still willing to cooperate. Maybe it was only because of the unusual circumstances, but Emma was determined to capitalize on it, particularly because with Regina the more answers she got, the more questions she had. Still, she asked softly, "And he was grateful?"

Looking into the green eyes beside her, Regina knew that Emma probably wouldn't push if she simply ceded her discomfort. But Regina would never admit to that, and there was something else, something from the pit of her stomach compelling her to continue.

"He came to our house to thank me and decided that I was the one he had been looking for. 'The Fairest in the Land,'" she tried to tease to regain some of her control, but it came out heavy. "He proposed."

Unaware of when, they had stopped walking and simply looked at each other for a moment, oblivious to the sounds and people around them. Their moment, whatever it was, was broken only as the crowd swept them up in its movement through the newly opened grand gate.

Jostling against the rabble she once ruled over, Regina instantly slipped back to her usual snippy self.

"And now here we are, the big day. Looks like you will have to stay for the festivities after all, Miss Swan."


	5. Chapter 5

They filled into the courtyard with the rest of the excited crowd, catching murmurs and snippets of conversations, mostly revolving around the new queen and her supposed beauty or how Snow would take to having a stepmother. Moving slowly through the throng of people, Emma and Regina stopped as cheering suddenly roared through the air.

Princess Snow White had stepped onto the balcony, greeting her people, marking the end of the wedding ceremony.

Emma wheeled around wide-eyed. "Is that…?"

"Snow White."

Emma laughed. "How weird! I think we're doing this backwards, me seeing her as a kid."

As she stared, Snow blew kisses to the crowd, smiling widely and waving excitedly.

After a moment, Emma gave an exaggerated scowl. "Of course she's annoyingly precious."

Now it was Regina's turn to laugh, a real laugh, catching Emma by surprise. Apparently this was something they could finally agree upon. "Oh yes, and cloyingly sweet."

"I guess you can't be much else with a name like Snow White."

Snow soon turned to look behind her, and Emma followed her eyes to see Regina, incredibly young and beautiful in a sparkling white gown being escorted out to the balcony by an older gentleman who put her forward for her new subjects. The crowd was momentarily hushed; the only sound the simultaneous intake of breath. Their new Queen truly was the fairest in the land, and as they roared back to life, the young Snow leapt to hug her new stepmother, only letting go to hold her hand.

Emma had not been immune to the sight of Regina's beauty and Snow's love, but as she regained her breath she could only blurt out, "You're so young!"

"Yes, how astute. Or are you simply in disbelief that an old hag could ever be so youthful." The bite typically found in her remarks was tempered not by her previous good mood but by her brooding, a gloom that had seemingly settled over Regina as soon as her younger self made her way into the sun. But Emma was too entranced by the sight of her mother and the young Queen to notice the change.

"C'mon Regina, you look the same. Very unfairly, I might add. I just meant…I mean, you're practically a baby!"

"Hardly, Miss Swan."

"You're what, 19? 20?"

"17."

"17, huh?" With the confirmation, Emma became more contemplative. "Guess that was a big year for us."

Regina murmured too low to hear. "Yes, both imprisoned."

Emma studied the two girls still standing at the railing, young Regina having joined Snow in waving at the masses. "Wait a second, how old is Snow?"

Equally as focused on the scene, though her thoughts ran elsewhere, Regina replied softly. "Hmm. 13."

"She's 13. And you're 17."

"You are starting to grasp these difficult concepts quite well, Miss Swan." The blonde's inane commentary was beginning to shake her from her contemplation, rousing the anger she so readily associated with the Sheriff.

"Regina, you're only four years older than her!"

"Ah, basic mathematics! You truly are advancing!" She lowered her voice as she realized the people around them were beginning to notice the two women weren't as deferential to the royal family as they should be.

"You really need to stop calling me by my name. It wouldn't suit a peasant. Not to mention referring to me as her, at least while we are amidst all of these people. Since I still look the same, as you said."

"Fine," Emma whispered back. "But will you at least acknowledge how weird it is that _she's_ about to be a stepmother to a girl who should basically be _her_ sister?"

They had been standing just inches from each other to be able to hear over the crowd, but at that, Regina moved in closer, staring Emma down. The acidity of her tone etched into Emma's mind.

"No, Miss Swan, I have no earthly idea what you are talking about, it is not strange at all that I would be forced to be the replacement mother for a girl who lost her own, though I was but four years older, all while simultaneously being considered old enough to be queen but young enough to have all of my decisions made for me."

Another case of word vomit. Regina wondered why she still responded to the pestering blonde when all that ever resulted from it was her own discomfort. She was letting Emma too far in; she knew it. But she couldn't help it. Instead, completely ignoring what she had just let slip, she moved back into action. They had no reason to be watching this presentation anyway.

"We have to get away from this rabble. Move towards that wall." She pointed at the far side of the courtyard and pushed Emma in that direction, effectively cutting off any responses the Sheriff might have come up with.

They made it to the outskirts of the group relatively quickly, and Emma took the opportunity to resume her commentary. This was a rare chance to have the upper hand on the Queen, and as long as they were in public, Regina couldn't hurt her, right?

"Your dad looked really proud." Emma puffed as they turned back towards the balcony.

Regina looked pained. "My father?"

At her response, Emma faced the brunette, questioning her perception and whether it was wise to continue at all. "That dude, standing off behind you?"

Realizing to whom the blonde was referring, Regina just gaped. Astoundingly enough, she wasn't even mad anymore. The hurt had dulled after her last outburst. Now it was just absurd. All of it was absurd.

"Miss Swan, your intellect continues to astound. That man is King Leopold." She swept her arm towards the balcony where the King had joined the family picture and kissed his young bride for the crowd.

Emma felt her stomach flop. "_That's_ the King?"

"Were you expecting another Charming?"

Emma knew she shouldn't be that surprised considering everything, but she couldn't help the outrage that bubbled deep inside of her. "But…he's got to be at least twice your age!"

"He's a king, not a prince, previously married, with a teen daughter." Regina felt the pain beginning to seep back in as she added more quietly, "He's much more than twice my age."

"Seriously, no one thinks this is weird?"

Again with the weird. Did this woman have any other vocabulary? Regina reined in her desire to lash out, knowing that she would be the only one to feel the pain. But she couldn't keep the chill out of her voice as she responded. "I was almost past my marriageable years, Miss Swan. To be unwed in your twenties was to be well into being an old maid. Besides, he was a king. He could marry whomever he chose. And no matter their realm, powerful men always choose young."

With that, it seemed for once Regina had managed to shut the Sheriff up. She would have to take advantage of the opportunity.

"If you're done with your ogling, would you like to attempt to get out of here?"

"Oh, of course. Sorry. It's just…a lot to take in." Emma knew she should say something more, but she couldn't come up with anything anywhere near decent enough.

"I'm sure."

Emma shook off Regina's icy tone. She could think about this later. Now, she had to get back to Henry.

"Well, what's next, then? I think this is the part you glossed over."

Regina was glad to hear the blonde's resolution and to have back the distraction of action. Throwing off the lingering uneasiness from their previous conversation, she reverted to her particular brand of blunt leadership.

"That indentation in the wall is a passageway. We are going to go through it."

Emma glanced at what appeared to be a solid stone wall. The only indication that it could be more than it seemed was a portion of it appeared to be a lighter color than the rest. Also the fact that this stretch of wall was not unattended. There was a rather hulking man with a rather large sword standing watch.

"Uh, do you not see the guard there?"

"Relax, Miss Swan. It's just Clement."

"Clement?"

Emma watched as the corners of Regina's mouth curled upward in an expression that certainly suited an evil queen.

"The dimmest and most easily distracted of all the castle guards."

Suddenly, Regina sprang into action, popping open the top buttons of Emma's vest and fluffing her hair, then turning her attention to herself. Stunned still from Regina's touch, Emma watched in awe as she dropped her shawl and mussed her hair, smudged her makeup for a little smoky imprecision, and most importantly, adjusted her bodice. A common man's substitute for the queen.

Emma just stared agape, altogether shocked by what had happened. When Regina noticed, she scoffed.

"Surely, Miss Swan, you have used your feminine wiles to your advantage before? I would hardly think you a prude."

"Well, sure, I mean…yeah, I have, but you? Like this? And why…?" She waved her hand as if to indicate her and Regina's new appearances, much more revealing than they had been.

Emma's flustering coupled with the adrenaline that came from executing another part of her plan only served to bolster Regina. She was fully back, confident in regaining her control.

"Shall we say…I know what catches his eye. And you have to be nice enough looking to get close but not so nice he won't take his eyes off you. Because once I get his attention, you are going to sneak through the door."

"Okay, but isn't he going to recognize you? And how will you get through?"

"Please, Miss Swan, his eyes will only be on my face long enough to register who I resemble." Considering Emma could barely keep her eyes off Regina's chest herself, she saw the truth in her logic. Regina grinned as she noticed this was indeed the case. "And he will let me through that door."

She grabbed Emma's arm and started walking towards their mark.

"All you have to do is come on strong and notion to me. The cretin will do the rest."

Emma had done this before. With many a bail jumper and more than a few unsuspecting men. But the ridiculousness of this particular situation was not lost on her. Regina let go of her arm and gave her one last shove towards their target.

"Hi, there." She smiled as she stumbled up to him. "I came to the festivities with my friend, but I couldn't help admiring you instead." She had indicated Regina over her shoulder, but as Clement turned to look, she glanced too. Regina was standing profile a little distance away, pretending to be engrossed with the activities around her, seemingly radiating shy energy.

She was older, dirtier, more provocatively dressed, but she looked remarkably like the young queen, as if she were truly unaware of the effect of her beauty. And that's when Emma knew that they needed to add genius to her Evil Queen title. Clement was hooked.

"That's your friend?"

"Yeah, she is, but she's got the wrong interests, if you ask me."

"Bring 'er over here."

Emma made a show of frowning and fetching Regina, indicating Clement and then pulling her over by the arm. Which on another day would have gotten her hand broken but now felt oddly comfortable.

"Here she is..." He wasn't paying her any attention now. Emma almost would have been offended if she weren't so personally mesmerized by Regina's act.

"What's your name, woman?"

Regina, pretending to be cowed in the face of authority, looked down, though her eyes locked with Emma's as she made a little gesture with her head indicating she should get a move on. It was the only indication that she wasn't actually this caricature.

"Gina, Sir." The voice is what did it. So high and squeaky, it looked wrong coming out of her body, but was so perfect to the part. Emma had made it through and checked to see the coast was clear before peeking out to see the last of Regina's charade.

"Gina, well, that's almost like the Queen! You looks a lot like her Majesty, Gina."

"Oh, thank you!" She almost managed to conjure up a flush to her cheeks. And actually, truly, giggled.

Emma was disturbed. Regina enjoyed the thought of what the act was likely doing to Emma, but this was rapidly becoming some of the hardest acting she ever had to do—this dolt was much worse to tolerate than she remembered. He had hunched over her so he was right at her level, breathing stale air into her face, being all too intimate with her personal space. If she had her magic, she wouldn't have hesitated to turn him into a cockroach. Luckily, Clement had never been one to waste time.

"Have ya ever been in the castle?"

"No!"

"Wouldja like to?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Well, I'm sure we could work somethin' out."

"Do you really think so?"

"Absolutely, Gina. Why dontcha wait for me inside? I'll join you in a minute."

"Of course…Sir!"

He grinned like an idiot at the sir. It was the cherry on top. He escorted her to the door that he didn't notice was already cracked open, and went off to find a replacement for his watch once she flashed him a big smile. Once they were both on the other side of the threshold, Regina's dopey grin turned instantly into a grimace and Emma had to work to keep her laughter from echoing through the hallway.

"Regina, that was brilliant!"

"Keep your voice down, Miss Swan, we have to get out of this corridor."

"What happens when he notices you're not here?"

"Well, it's typically frowned upon to let strange women into the castle, particularly through a secret passage, and particularly if you're a lowly guard with no reason but sexual impulse, so he won't come looking or tell anyone else about it, but just hope that I disappeared without doing any harm. The "it wasn't me" approach, as favored by five-year-olds."

"Once again, brilliant." Regina allowed herself a little smile seeing Emma's joy at the situation. It seemed they were sharing a joke. Something Regina had never done with a…peer. "I'd say we make a pretty good team, your Majesty."

Emma wished she could save the smile she got in return for future use.

"Considering you didn't destroy my plan, I would have to agree this once."


	6. Chapter 6

They padded along stone corridors, each more hidden than the last, winding their way into the inner sanctum of the castle. Regina led, peering around each corner and signaling when clear with Emma following close behind. Their progress had been slow; Regina never would have admitted it, but over 28 years in Storybrooke had affected her memory of the place, and some of the turns had seemed entirely foreign. It did not help that was decidedly on edge being back in the midst of it all and every echoed sound made her stop in apprehension.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be a dead end. Emma stood back and huffed in frustration, thinking that her guide had finally lost her touch in this maze, but Regina actually appeared relieved and went directly to the wall, brushing her fingertips over the rough stones.

"What are you doing?" Emma wondered aloud at the brunette's odd behavior.

Rolling her eyes at the blonde's confusion, Regina continued her work. "This is the final barrier between us and my mother's…workspace, the most likely place we'll find our portal. I have to find the trigger for the door. My mother liked to hide it. Normally I would use a locator spell…but I should be able to sense it if I get close enough."

Knowing that there was soon to be no turning back if confronted with the wicked witch of this world, and remembering Regina's earlier words, Emma felt the need to confirm what she already imagined to be true.

"Are you sure we're safe from Cora?"

"Yes, Miss Swan, I'm sure."

"How can you know?"

"She's not here!" Regina felt her blood pressure rising from the Sheriff's questions and her mother's impossible moving key.

"Oh." Emma considered this for a moment before deciding it wasn't enough. "You can sense her?"

Regina gave up on the wall and wheeled to face her unfortunate companion. "No, for godsakes, she's gone. She's no longer in this realm."

The idea of Cora jumping realms was not a comforting one to Emma. "Where'd she go? Oh god, she didn't go back—two of them…"

"Miss Swan, have you forgotten that we are stuck in the past? Storybrooke doesn't exist yet!"

"Yes, we did just travel through time, so why can't she! Sorry if I don't trust absolutes when dealing with your crazy bitch of a mother!"

"Oh, yes, it's been so difficult for _you!_ I can't imagine!"

They both froze for a moment. It had been one thing to acknowledge her mother was a piece of work, but this, this was affirmation of what that had actually meant for Regina. Disappointed and afraid of her own crumbling façade, Regina turned back to face the solid wall that separated her from her goal.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Regina." Emma moved forward to stand beside her. It's not like she really owed her an apology, but she meant it. "Can you please just tell me where she is? And why she can't come back? Just so my stupid mind can tell my stupid mouth to shut up?"

The apology paired with Emma insulting herself had her feeling less tense, though she wondered at the sensation. Nobody had ever been very successful at talking her down from her emotions, especially someone who tended to get her so worked up in the first place. She centered herself and turned to face the blonde, replying wearily. "I'm sure you're familiar with the Queen of Hearts? Today is her first day in Wonderland."

Emma's jaw dropped yet again. She didn't think she'd ever get used to knowing fairy tale characters. "Your mother went to Wonderland on your wedding day? And became the Queen of Hearts? 'Off with their heads?'"

"She didn't _leave_, I put her there. With the help of Rumplestiltskin." The feeling of reluctant acceptance she had found earlier was rapidly fading away. Emma Swan knew exactly how to rile her, whether intentionally or not.

"Wait, what?" Knowing Rumple was around instead of Cora wasn't exactly heartening.

"Really, Miss Swan, this isn't an interrogation! We don't have time for this. Or do you not want to go back? Would you like to stay here and find out every little thing about my life? Shall I draw you up a list of all of the things I've ever done? Not that you would believe it complete, of course."

Regina had hit home. They had been arguing Regina's innocence in Archie's "death" when the portal in the office had opened, with Emma recognizing she had been wrong but not yet willing to admit that her doubt had been without merit. Though the more time she spent around magic the more she realized how ill-equipped she was to deal with it. She took the projected memory of a dog over a woman's word. No matter how devalued that word was, Emma should have used her superpower. She should have gone with her gut.

"Look, Regina, I'm sorry." She paused, hoping that the words would sink in. "But I'm naturally curious, and I think it would be helpful if I at least knew as much about what is going on as you do, right? I'm just trying to get a feel for what's happening. You don't want to tell me, fine. But the more I know, the more I can help, and the quicker we get back to Henry and can deal with all the shit that's waiting for us at home. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me when we get back. Alright?"

Regina pouted and grumbled, "I don't know why you would assume I would care to know anything about your life." Emma made a face that told her she knew she was just being petulant, and she was waiting for a real answer.

"Fine. My mother is in Wonderland because I pushed her through a portal that Rumplestiltskin gave me shortly before I was married. She does not come back to this land until right before I enact the curse, nor does she have the means to." She sighed, though her words were still clipped. "Is that enough for you? Do you feel informed?"

"Why?"

Regina's temper flared again; it was hard to believe it had ever settled in the first place. "I hardly think that's necessary for you to get a grasp on the situation, Sheriff!"

"No, but a Sheriff's got to have a motive." It was meant to be a joke, but the word choice was less than fortunate. She quickly forged on. "Besides, if you're already dealing with Rumplestiltskin, why can't you use your magic?"

Maybe it was her tone, or the implied mistrust, or maybe just because it was yet another question, but hearing Emma's words…something in Regina snapped.

"Calling on him was the first magic I ever used! I wanted to escape! I was running away but Mother—I didn't know what else to do. I stole her book of magic, which was actually Rumplestiltskin's, and called for him to help. He suggested the portal. I couldn't do it. She was still my mother. But she wanted me to take the power from the King, and I couldn't—I didn't want to. The imp encouraged me. I pushed her through. I didn't want to be like her. But it turns out she got everything she wanted after all. Are you happy? Is that enough _motive_? Do you see everything clearly?"

She was practically hyperventilating. It was too much. She didn't understand why her mouth, her mind was betraying her, why she couldn't control any of her emotions. It was almost as if her ability to hide had regressed with her magic, like she hadn't had the years of practice as politician, as queen. Anger was one thing—people feared anger. Anger was where her magic came from. But this was more like hurt, and that made her about as powerful as a puppy. And with Emma Swan of all people.

Emma, for her part, was equally as distressed by the turn of events. She had expected something like, well, something like the Evil Queen would have done. Retribution for a wrong, revenge, maybe a power play. Not something like self-defense. Not the indication that Regina's first step down her sordid path came from wanting an escape, and that Rumplestiltskin had much more to do with that path than people might believe. And she had certainly not expected how young Regina looked, how expressive those dark eyes could be, how much anguish they contained. Again she was possessed with the strange desire to comfort the fallen queen and reached out an arm before her brain caught up and explained just how horrible an idea that would be. Instead she leaned it against the wall, trying to formulate a response when her hand started to vibrate with an odd sort of energy, prickling like it had fallen asleep.

"Regina?"

"What. What could you possibly have to say." Regina was quickly finding this escapade unsalvageable, and despite her love for Henry, if Emma asked one more question, she'd at least have to maim her.

"I think I found the handle."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** In honor of the death of my computer and the "birth" of my new one, I hope to have a chapter a day for at least a few days-please help keep me on point!

**A warning: **This chapter alludes to marital rape. It is not graphic, but it is clear.

* * *

Regina shoved her out of the way (she had to take what she could get) and laid her fingertips over the stone. This was it. Of course the Savior would just happen to stumble upon it. She gave it a swift shove and soon the stones seemed to dissolve away leaving open a small passage.

They stepped into a room that was significantly more distinguished than the hallway they had just come from as the door automatically shut behind them. Their argument was forgotten as both focused on the space in front of them; Regina lost in old memories and Emma observing the grandeur.

It was like the center of a panopticon, with impossibly high ceilings and many smaller passageways radiating from the center, leading to, Emma imagined, all the parts of the castle that were worth keeping watch over. It was almost impossible to believe that this space could stay hidden—magic had to be involved. There were rows of bookshelves, and chests and trinkets, an imposing table in the center, and torches lining the walls. It certainly looked the part of an evil witch's lair. Emma was uncomfortable just knowing that Cora had been here. They needed to find this thing and get on their way. Too much time in Fairy Tale Land never ended well.

"What are we looking for?"

Regina was already leaning over the table, appearing to scan the scrolls that lay upon it, but really preventing Emma from seeing her contemplative stare.

"I don't know."

Emma resisted the urge to scream, seeing it would hardly be productive for their search or for Regina's mood. Besides, there had been something in the brunette's tone that struck a chord. It was unfamiliar, but Emma found herself wanting to be helpful where she would normally want to be antagonistic.

"Then how are we going to find it?"

Regina looked over her shoulder in disbelief. She had certainly expected a different reaction, since the Sheriff never appreciated being kept in the dark and surely didn't trust her, but it appeared that Emma was not willing to be discouraged in their search.

"I know she enchanted something—it would have been something small, easily transportable. Ideally I'll be able to recognize it as something that she always had around. It should have some of the same energy from the door—that much magic can't be contained in an object and stay completely hidden."

"So I should be able to feel it?"

"Yes. But there are certain to be many other objects here that give off similar energy. I will look for the portal. You look for anything that indicates time—watches, timers, moon charts—anything. Without my practiced magic we will need something to supplement our travel."

"Fine." Emma wasn't in the mood to fight about being ordered around. They were so close—hopefully—and it made sense anyway. But she did risk asking one last question.

"We don't have to worry about Rumplestiltskin showing up, do we?"

"No."

It was clear that was all Regina intended to say on the subject.

"Alright, then." Maybe she didn't always trust the former mayor, but it would have to be good enough for now.

Emma started to really look around and realized that some of the passageways that spanned long enough to appear to melt into darkness had shelving of their own.

"What about all of these?" Damn, she really was asking a lot of questions.

Regina looked up from an open chest of tools she was already examining to see Emma point out the halls.

"Some of them have storage of lesser importance—you may still find something useful. But do not leave for too long, do not go through any doors, and if you hear something, come back immediately."

"Yes, Mom."

Regina looked up again in surprise. She knew Emma had been kidding, taking a dig, but she was struck by how much she sounded like Henry. Henry, who she had seen only briefly since Archie's reappearance. Who was living with his birth mother, a woman who had been entirely absent from his life for 10 years and knew nothing of raising a child, let alone _her_ child, but oddly enough shared his mannerisms. Regina would have cried in her sorrow and utter frustration like all of the other outbursts she had already had but for the fact that Emma stared at her as if she were waiting for it, waiting for something at least, like she knew that she had hit a nerve. Not gloating, worse—like she wanted to be there to fix it. So instead, Regina screwed on her best glare and then went back to searching. The sooner she found this portal, the sooner they would be out of here, and she could work on getting her son back.

Emma just accepted her look, glad to get out of that awkward moment at least with some space, unlike all the other awkward moments they had already had. Time with Regina was supposed to be infuriating, not confusing, and she was glad to finally have something definite to do. She picked a hallway at random, wandering down the corridor, occasionally looking in the cases that lined the wall underneath the torches, the intermittent bookshelf, until she realized she reached a dead end. Or maybe it was another secret door, and Regina said no going through doors. She may be learning a lot about the Mayor but she still knew not to disregard a direct order without expecting unpleasant consequences. Besides, it was the end of Cora's domain anyway; she wouldn't have hid anything useful in the main castle. Emma's natural curiosity would have to a back seat to finding the way home.

She was about to turn around and head back when she heard some bustling and noticed that there was a small light coming through from the other side of the wall. As she approached, she spotted a small peephole carved into the stone, and looked through to see a young Regina standing in her bedclothes, dismissing her chambermaids.

She knew she shouldn't be watching for so many reasons, but it was still so intriguing to see the Queen like this. Young, innocent, so clearly kindhearted, though as Emma was quickly learning, already a little tortured.

Even though, or perhaps, because she had more of the pieces than she ever expected to, Emma was drawn to the mystery of how this girl turned into the woman she knew. How the thing that kept the smile out of her deep brown eyes had grown to become such powerful anger from the deep heartache Emma could see now. But at the moment, young Regina also looked quite nervous as she fussed with her gown.

She wasn't there more than a minute before King Leopold entered, and Emma watched as the young queen tensed even further.

"Regina, My Queen."

"Your Majesty."

"Please, you may call me Leopold when we are alone together."

"Yes, your—Leopold."

"Your mother has prepared you for tonight?"

"Yes, Leopold."

Emma watched in horror as the King took her hand and led her towards the bed. She could feel Regina's fear radiating off of her; she knew what was coming next.

"Excellent. There is no need to be afraid, Regina."

The King ran his hand down her cheek and over her shoulder, brushing off the top of her gown. Emma's stomach flopped. She wanted to run out, to stop it, but not only could she not interfere with the past lest it affect her future, she couldn't help the Regina she was with who had already suffered through it.

Finished with his appraisal, the King pressed her back onto the bed, lifting his own gown.

That was when Emma finally found the muscle capacity to turn away, clamping her eyes shut, clutching her stomach and her mouth, forcing herself to be quiet, to not vomit, pressing against the cool stone of the door, when suddenly she heard it, the young girl's startled cry of pain.

She meant to run back to her Regina, the Regina with years beyond this trauma; she should have gone back long ago, but when she opened her eyes, her Regina was already there in the corridor in front of her with a look of pure horror.

She had heard the cry, too.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **An extra long chapter in honor of my promise and no show tonight!

and a **Warning:** this chapter references the rape of the past chapter. Again, mentions are not graphic, but clear.

* * *

It was all Regina could do not to let out a cry of her own but instead turn and run away. Run as far away as she could, which was farther than she could at 17 but nowhere near far enough.

The Evil Queen didn't run. Not like this. But being there, in that goddamn castle on that goddamn night, she was not the Evil Queen anymore. She wasn't even Mayor Mills. She was Regina. Brokenhearted, scared, young Regina, who lost her true love, who was forced into marriage, who shoved her own mother across dimensions, who struggled so hard with the darkness she knew was finally taking root inside of her.

She had just gone in search of the stupid Sheriff, not wanting her to get caught or do something idiotic, needing her focused on the search that was not getting anywhere, looking out for her. God, it was so foolish, but that's what Henry would have wanted, or so she justified it. She should have known that of all the passageways the blonde could have chosen, she'd pick this one; she should have known to keep an eye on her from the beginning; she of all people should have known what secrets lay in this past. She hadn't known that there was an opening in the hidden door to her room, but it wasn't surprising. Her mother had probably planned to spend the night there, watching to ensure that Regina didn't ruin her intricately laid plans. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. She was reliving it. And Emma Swan was there to throw it in her face.

She finally reached the center room with nowhere left to go, panting much harder than her run would account for, and sucked in as much air as she could, drawing on all of her focus to tame her thoughts. She would get out of this nightmare. She would get back to Henry. He would be proud of her for not killing his birth mother. She would not think about what was going on in the castle at this very moment.

Emma had run after her and soon her footsteps fell on the stones of the center room where she stopped. She had just followed, knowing that she had to, but she had no idea what to say to this woman who had been so broken, how to justify the intrusion she had made, re-victimizing her. So she stared at the back of the fallen queen, the tension so thick it seeped though her skin, constricting her already heavy heart. Emma wished Regina would lash out, hurt her—it would have been so easy to take. But the Queen stood still.

After a time of such silence Emma wondered if somehow they had sucked the sound out of the air, Regina slowly turned to face her trespasser. If Emma had been speechless before, her words fell back further into the recesses of her mind. Regina was a statue, perfectly still; the only action came from her eyes, staring so intently as if they could pierce Emma's soul.

"What the hell were you doing." Each word simmered in quiet rage. She would have loved to scream, but she knew better than most that castles weren't as soundproof as they seemed.

"Regina…"

"What. The hell. Were you doing."

Emma knew that it wasn't anywhere near enough, but she could only come up with three words.

"I'm so sorry."

"I don't want your pity!" The words echoed through the chamber, and Regina took a moment to rein in her voice. She needed her façade. She needed her control now more than ever.

"Who the hell do you think you are? What were you thinking?" She asked with all of the deadly force she could manage, but the questions were empty. There was no answer she would accept. There were no explanations.

"It's not pity," Emma rushed to qualify. She knew how hollow pity was. And what she felt for that girl, for the woman standing in front of her…there was nothing meaningless about it.

"Regina, it's, it's…begging forgiveness." Emma wouldn't have known how to explain all of the things she was begging for, but she knew she needed it.

"I am so sorry."

She resisted the urge to approach her, though feeling as if somehow physical proximity would lend her words more weight, more meaning. Seeing Regina just stand there…it was distressing in itself. As distressing as it had been to watch the strongest woman she knew, who had challenged death time and again, flee in anguish. Regina was just as powerless to stop this hurt, this violation against her as the one at the other end of the hall.

The more Emma considered it, the more she seethed, against the King, against herself, against the fucking hypocrites of Story Book Land and Storybrooke alike. She had to say something to Regina, but unable to meet her eyes shimmering with rage and unshed tears any longer, it came out as more to herself, a rant as she began pacing sharply back and forth.

"Fuck. Why did I not even consider this? Sure, life's not a fairytale, but somehow I managed to go ahead and think of it like one. Just 'cause I'm not a character in the book, so my shit is more real?…You're not a character, Regina, you're a real person. Your life is not just some story in a goddamn kid's book! Of course, just glide right by the parts that suck to think about, the parts that Disney couldn't make into movies…the reasons life is not black and white… I should fucking know better!" Emma railed against herself as she realized how far she had fallen into Henry's naïve worldview. "God, the "Good King," ugh, my _grandfather,_ is raping you right now, and you're supposed to be the Evil Queen? He's the fucking _innocent_?"

Regina was thrown by Emma's anger. She had expected to rage at whatever half-assed excuse the blonde had tried to apologize with. She should be throttling her right now, but Emma looked about ready to do it herself. Her fists were clenched, tears were pooling in her dark green eyes. Emma was feeling the things Regina hadn't allowed herself to feel, hadn't allowed herself to think about, because then it would have been too hard. Too hard to break like this night after night for years. To let him break her. But suddenly, faced with Emma in her own role, she felt the need to justify, to explain that this life, as painful as it was, was hardly an excuse.

"Please, Miss Swan, it's just the way things were done." She was trying for snide, but despite her best efforts, it came out more pleading, the untempered emotion in her eyes giving her away.

Emma's eyes locked on to hers. "That doesn't make it okay!" Recognizing her misplaced wrath, she studied the woman in front of her, feeling the hurt in the bottom of her heart.

"You know it's not okay."

Regina was trying her best, full-on politician's front, but somehow Emma was seeing straight through her. Emma, meanwhile, couldn't stand to see the truth in all of its sadness and had gone back to rage.

"Why would anyone want to come back to this god-awful place? I mean, our world is plenty messed up, I know, trust me, do I know, but at least there's some sense of what's good! Not a whole fucking kingdom cheering for teenaged girls being forced into marriages with old men they don't even know, only to be used as an object, a place holder..." Emma's steam was dying out as her nausea returned, and she rubbed her hands over her face, needing to place some sort of action with her emotion, some physicality to stop the tension, so she could pull herself together enough to look at Regina again, who was still frighteningly quiet.

Staring into coffee-colored eyes flickering with a whole range of feelings she had never expected to see in this woman with whom she had shared such animosity, Emma was determined to be brave. At least brave enough to try and fix the hurt she had never intended to cause.

"Regina, I know that this means nothing to you. I know you want to kill me, and you might even try if you didn't love Henry as much as you do. I know you've done some plenty awful shit, too, and more that I don't even know about, and I have absolutely blamed you for it, but God, Regina, if you can believe me at all, I am so sorry. I will get you back to Henry, and I won't take him away from you. You're different, you're trying—despite everything. He needs to know that the sins of the so-called wicked should be forgiven as easily as those of the good. He needs to understand."

At the idea of Henry discovering her true past, Regina's silence shattered, along with any control she had managed to string together.

"No!" The scream left her with more force than she had intended, but she pressed on, her fury back in top form.

"What, do you want to tell him what you saw here tonight, Miss Swan? What you saw happen to his mother as you peeped through closed doors? Reveal the ugly truth to a _child_ so he can try to reconcile the evil he sees in me? As if it were your truth to tell!"

Every inch of her body was straining to keep it all in, to deal with the raging storm inside of her. She felt as if she could actually combust, her cells pulsating with such force that it was like she was absorbing another Death Curse. Her words poured out as fast as she could make them, the only release to the pressure.

"Or is it so you can feel better about trying to steal him away from me, knowing now that everything I've ever had has been forcibly taken from me? That despite it all, I've never really had control? You think you know what I have lost? What I have felt?"

Tears were streaming unbidden down her face, but she couldn't even care, couldn't even stop to think, the truths kept coming.

"My love murdered in front of me because your brat of a mother couldn't keep a secret? His heart torn from his chest at my mother's hand? Imprisoned by my mother and then by the King in gilded cages? Where every hurt, every injustice, every torture was ignored? Left alone in a world where my only companion was the girl who destroyed my one chance at happiness? Feeling guilty, Miss Swan? Upset at following a little too closely in your mother's footsteps?" She laughed a cold and desperate laugh, the burning pressure giving way to empty, empty ache. "No need. No one mourns the wicked. I am the Evil Queen. Nothing you have seen in this hell of a day—nothing from my past or my future changes that. And these uncomfortable feelings you're having? That tension in the pit of your stomach because maybe you've actually managed to feel you've done something wrong? It will all fade away once you're back with _my_ son and your precious parents in their goddamn happy ending. So go ahead. Forget this, forget all of this, help me find the fucking portal, and let's get out of here so you can leave me!"

Every word rumbled through the room, the echoes almost lending them physical force, plowing into Emma with the sheer strength of Regina's own emotion.

"No."

The word wasn't strong enough, and without thinking, Emma lunged at Regina, grasping at her arms. Regina instantly tried to throw her away, shirking the contact, but she couldn't. This wasn't just Emma's strength. It was her magic. Her hands glowed warm on her skin as she moved in until she was staring the former queen in the eye, just inches away from her face, willing her words to embed themselves in her mind, to reveal the truth.

"No." Realizing she had not yet died or suffered any horrible injury, Emma pressed on, brave enough to look into the depths of Regina's darkened soul, and state her truth with gentle conviction.

"You are not evil. You have suffered. Abuse, loss, manipulation, violence…" Emma was piecing everything together, knowing that despite it all, they had only scratched the surface of Regina's past.

"You have suffered. What you have done…you're right, it's no use trying to justify it. You have done evil, but you are not evil. You are not inherently a killer, Regina. Somehow…somehow, your heart is so pure that it withstood years of torture at the hands of your mother and what I can only assume was indifference at the hands of your father to grow up to be a compassionate young woman who believed in the power of true love. You risked your life to save a stranger. You cared—you can't deny it because I saw it—you cared for the girl not much younger than you who help destroy your happiness. You fought against Cora because somehow you were still strong enough to try and escape her grasp. I can't—I won't pretend I know what it was like. My fucked up life was a whole different kind of fucked up. I don't know your whole story, and what I do know, I won't share with anyone. I don't even know what happens next, but even though I want to, I want to know it all, desperately, I don't have to. Because I know the end of the story. You are not your mother. You raised Henry—just think about Henry! Smart and kind and funny and imaginative, not because he had to be to survive, but because you love him truly and because you were those things with him even if you're not with anyone else. I couldn't see…you gave him everything I could have ever hoped for. And now, now, you are fighting so hard to earn something you should already have, but not your way, not the way that your mother taught you, that I'm sure Rumplestiltskin taught you, not anymore.

"Regina, I see you, and I see that girl. I didn't before. I'm so sorry I didn't. But if anyone is strong enough not to need the Savior, it's you. So I won't insult you by saying I can help. I know you hate revealing anything, trust me, I know. And I know that I fucked up when it came to Archie. And we have plenty of stuff to work through that can't happen 'til we get back. But as much as you want it, I'm never going to be able to forget. So if you ever need anyone—want anyone, please let me be that person. Please.

"I believe you, Regina. I believe in you. If any of this actually gets through to you please let it be that. I don't want a happy ending unless you get one.

"I'm not going to leave you again."

She wanted to be mad. She really, truly did. She wanted to yell at Emma for assuming she knew anything at all, for summing up her life, her, in a few sentences when she had only seen this day, from afar at that. She wanted to pummel her, throw endless fireballs, for the damage she had done. She wanted to scream incoherently, try to erase everything that had happened without revealing any more of her darkened soul. She wanted to go back in time again so Emma Swan would never get to see what her life had been like, would never get the story she had worked so hard to keep hidden, would never get to share in her dirty secrets. She wanted to hate her. But she was broken. Her brain, her thought processes weren't working properly, different chain reactions were being formed, and the only thing she could do was feel the pain of an underused organ swelling in her chest and the warm trail of a tear sliding down her cheek. The stupid, irritating, horrible Savior, daughter of her enemy, believed in her. Believed in her goodness. She hadn't rescinded her forgiveness knowing her evils. She had offered it in spite of them. She accepted her as everything she was. Young girl, stepmother, Evil Queen, Regina Mills. Forgiveness meant redemption; redemption meant happy endings, and as truly as Regina believed there would not be one for her, not after everything that she had done, here, literally in the hands of the Savior, she allowed herself just the tiniest bit of hope.


	9. Chapter 9

The purple that swirled from her fingertips had been hardly noticeable at first, weak and easily ignored in their tempest of emotions, but as it rose towards Emma's arms, it grew stronger, fuller, until both women noticed the energy intensifying, startling them out of the moment. Emma dropped her hands, and everything quickly faded. The haze of her previous thoughts vanishing, Regina panicked when she realized what exactly had happened—but more importantly, what it meant for their chances of getting back home. She snapped at Emma.

"Grab me again."

"What?" Emma was utterly confused. She had been preparing herself for a number of possible different reactions to what had happened, but this was not one of them.

"Do it!" Despite the intense vulnerability Emma had just seen, Mayor Mills was now fully back, her commanding persona in full force as she concentrated on Emma's arms.

Too bewildered to even consider not following the brunette's order, Emma reached up again, settling her palms on the soft skin she had just held.

"No!" Regina snarled at the gentle touch. "Like you did before! Feel it."

"Regina, I don't understand…" Before Emma could drop her arms, Regina had grabbed them, forcefully holding her in place.

"Your emotions. Between the two of us we can conjure enough magic, and I can find everything we need. Grab me like you mean it, feel whatever you were feeling before!"

Emma thought. She thought about what this meant for their getting home, about what would happen when they got there. She thought about how desperately she needed Regina to understand that she had meant what she said. She thought about how much she wanted to see that look from her again, about how much she wanted to help. She thought about how she needed her, how their ridiculous family was basically all she ever wanted, and she clutched tightly, trying to force it all through her fingertips and into Regina's skin, to have it be a part of her. The glow returned. Not as bright but getting there. Emma watched in awe as purple mist began to rise once again as Regina stared at her in concentration, and she couldn't help but wonder what emotions the Queen was drawing from.

This time, as the energy between them grew, neither backed away, and soon the white and the purple had melded into a sort of periwinkle, and it was difficult to tell from where it had came. Slowly, Regina began murmuring, and various objects around the room floated into the air and drew towards them, some falling away the closer they got, others moving faster. Regina was straining in concentration, and Emma could feel her drawing from her power. She could feel it all, really. It wasn't like diffusing the trigger. She could feel Regina's magic then, too, but they were focused on the object. Two forces working separately, side by side. This was…well, it wasn't just one of them or the other, it was theirs. It was incredibly intimate. If the situation hadn't been so dire and their feelings so fucked up, Emma would have cracked an awkward "two become one" joke, which in itself was awkward because why would she be thinking about Regina like that? But she was saved from her thoughts and the increasingly woozy feeling that was seeping through her veins when finally a small pouch and an hourglass dropped to their feet and Regina broke Emma's hold to pick them up. Emma was only somewhat shocked to find that she missed the connection.

She watched as the former mayor rose slowly, still graceful but clearly drained, likely both from the magic and the turmoil of their day.

"So, is that it?"

"Apparently."

"What is it?"

Regina eyed the pouch with suspicion. On its own it wasn't much, and it was quite light, but she could feel the powerful magic contained inside. She opened it to see what lay within and sighing, presented it to Emma.

"A single strand of spun gold. I should have known."

Emma looked from the bag where the gold caught the light back up to Regina. She was so lost and it showed. Regina spared her from having to ask when she continued, "Think back to your fairytales. My mother is the Miller's Daughter. This gold, this was her first escape."

"Really?" Emma's eyes went wide. "Cora is the Queen of Hearts and the girl rescued by Rumplestiltskin. Anything else? When we get back, could we please get one of the Enchanted Forest people to write a real history book? So this can be less confusing? I mean, isn't Rumplestiltskin supposed to get her baby? Or she beats him by guessing his name…Fuck, I never thought I'd have to pay more attention to fairy tales."

Surprisingly, Regina cracked a small smile, finding the blonde's confusion somewhat entertaining, her heightened sensitivity apparently responding just as well to amusement. Despite her easing, or perhaps because of it, she couldn't help replying, "You don't think he got me?"

Emma considered the woman standing before her. It had never occurred to her that that was exactly what happened. This world really was something else. This woman was something else.

Startled to find herself losing herself in the eyes of her former nemisis, she instead focused on the objects Regina was holding, something concrete—their way back.

"Well, that's it right? We can go home now?"

"Almost." Regina turned towards the wall they had come in from when Emma's words stopped her.

"Wait, what?"

She turned back to find the blonde still standing in the middle of the room, aghast.

Regina rolled her eyes, somewhat stunned to see how their dynamic had reverted to its usual state, the only evidence of their previous conversation a slight slump in their shoulders and an underlying gentleness that had not been there before.

"We can't exactly open up a portal in the middle of the castle, Emma. There's no controlling what comes with or who might see."

Sensing that it was not a matter of more questing or Regina pulling something over on her, Emma loosened a little. And then she noticed it. Regina had called her Emma. That was new. And nice. She tried an apologetic smile. "Right. Trying not to change history. Got it."

Regina could see the underlying regret in the blonde's eyes. And she was unnerved to find herself comforted by it. She tried to regain her indifference in her reply. "We only have to return to where we came through. Besides, it might help anchor our path back to our present."

"Okay." Emma simply smiled as she walked up to Regina's side and looked her in the eye.

"Let's go back home."


	10. Chapter 10

The women wound their way back through the hidden and not-so-hidden passages. Regina was still in the lead, though they went much faster this time, her memory refreshed by the trip there and buoyed by the end of this terrible day being in sight. It had grown quite late, so there were fewer people roaming the halls, and the ones that were out were also quite drunk and wouldn't pay much attention to a couple of peasant girls, even if one did happen to look an awful lot like the queen.

They took a shorter route through main hallways, Emma's heart skipping a beat as a guard slouched against a wall let out a low whistle. Regina didn't even spare him a glance, moving forward with all the confidence of a queen. Emma couldn't help envision the Evil Queen owning these very halls, her strut alone enough to gain equal fear and wonder from any observer. As they approached the door they came in from though, Regina suddenly stopped and covered her head, draping her shawl around her, and dropping her shoulders into a posture more appropriate for a peasant girl, relieved that she at least had remembered before stepping out into the yard, but more so that no one in the castle had seemed to notice. She couldn't let herself get distracted like that, not when they were so close.

"Everyone out there knows what I look like now. It shouldn't matter, but—"

"I'll stay in front," Emma offered, glad that Regina had somehow managed to keep focused despite everything, feeling more than a little off her game herself.

Regina nodded and pushed the stone away, revealing the courtyard. Despite the hour, there were a good deal of people about, even some villagers engaged in less than appropriate public behavior with members of the guard. Taking some comfort in their fitting in with the surroundings, Emma and Regina started to make their way to the gates when they heard a yell from behind them.

"Hey, you!"

They turned their heads to see Clement push himself off the wall he was leaning on and lope towards them. Sharing an anxious glance and thinking the same thing, the women both sped up without a word, hoping he would just ignore them and go away.

"You…Gina! Stop!"

After that, they didn't have much chance of escaping his attention, and it would hardly help their escaping everyone else's attention to have a drunken guard bellowing after them. Especially one shouting "Gina" at a woman who resembled the queen. They stopped and turned around, and Regina could only manage a brief glance at Emma before Clement had made it over to them and grabbed her by the arm.

"I thought I told ya to wait for me!"

Regina dropped right into character, and Emma was once again surprised by her ability. But she was more shocked that Regina would ever let herself be manhandled like that, no matter the cause.

"But I did, sir! Another guard saw me and said I had to leave!"

Regina's excuse had the exact combination of fear and pout for Clement to let go of her arm, allowing both women to breathe a little more easily.

"Oh. Well…now that I found you, dontcha want a personal escort?"

Once again, Clement was ignoring all standards of personal space, maintaining direct eye contact with Regina's chest, the closeness made all the worse by his 90 proof breath. As good of an actress as Regina was, even she couldn't hide the absolute disgust and distain for the man that had taken up permanent residence in her eyes.

Emma had experienced many similar feelings at many a dive bar, but this guy was clearly a sleaze in the worst way. Though she couldn't help but imagine that if Regina ever were to go to a bar, this sort of thing would likely happen to her all the time. Of course, if they had just been in a bar and not in the midst of trying to escape a realm, she'd probably just break any fingers that tried to touch her. Emma knew it was wrong, but she kind of wanted to see that.

"Sir, I've got to get home. Maybe another time?" Emma thought Regina had put in just the right amount of flirt to get him to agree to another night, but apparently Clement disagreed.

"Nonsense! The night's still young! C'mon, Gina, let's you and me celebrate." He pulled the shawl off her head and ran his fingertips down her shoulder, clutching at her arm. Emma realized that there was no way this would end well. She needed to intervene.

"Hey, Gina," she called over as she ran to the brunette's side, putting some space between her and Clement. "Doesn't that girl look exactly like the queen? Oh my, is she kissing that other woman?"

She pointed out a dark-haired woman in the distance who was in fact making out with a guard on the small end of things, and Clement, bless his heart, dropped his hold and looked right away. Emma grabbed Regina's hand and ran to the side, ducking behind a cart.

"Really, Miss Swan?" Regina whispered incredulously as she watched Clement slowly realize they were missing but was too drunk and distracted to execute a proper search. Instead it seemed he was rather interested in the other woman Emma had pointed out. Emma breathed a sigh of relief as he walked in her direction away from them.

Amused at Regina's reaction, she replied, "Hey, you said he was the dullest. Besides, he was sloshed. And you're not the only one wise to the likes of men." She grinned as she stood up from behind their cover and offered Regina a hand.

Regina didn't take it, but Emma noticed the corners of her mouth tick upward as she muttered a little, rising on her own.

"Thank you."

Emma was surprised to hear the words. Despite everything she had discovered on their adventure, Regina still wasn't much for gratitude or apologies. But she then it hit her just how uncomfortable Regina must have been in that situation, once again powerless in the hands of a man determined to take what he pleased, and Emma accepted the thanks with as much sincerity as she could muster.

"Not a problem, Regina." She added, "We might have had a hard time escaping if you had decided to break his nose. Not that he didn't deserve it." Flashing a smirk at Regina, she was happy to see it returned in full. This, this détente between them felt so natural. But as she regarded the queen, she realized she was entirely too visible.

"You should pull your shawl back up. There's a lot more people out than I would have expected."

Regina quickly rewrapped her head. "Weddings call for celebration. It breaks up the monotony."

"Well, now that they're all googly-eyed over you, they definitely know what you look like." Emma was beginning to notice some stares, and it wasn't just from their confrontation with Clement.

"C'mere." She loosely wrapped her arm around Regina's waist.

Regina instantly reacted, stiffening and trying to push her away. Emma had done it without even thinking, not appreciating how much their civil interaction had dropped her guard, and she recognized she was going to have to do some quick explaining if she wanted to keep her arm.

"What are you doing!"

Emma removed her arm but dropped her voice to keep Regina close. "Look, I know this is beneath you, but can you pretend you're drunk? You can keep your head down and I can tell anybody who asks that I've got it under control. That way, you won't have to try and stay hidden behind me. No one will see your face. And nobody wants to bother with a drunk girl as long as she's got a sober friend."

Regina very reluctantly conceded the merit of this logic as she, too, started to notice the stares and whispers. She scowled as she draped her own arm over Emma's shoulders, dropping her head.

Interpreting the gesture as acceptance, Emma gently put her arm around Regina and resumed their walk to the gates, taking the lead.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** 101 followers?! I love all of you. Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans out there! I'm very thankful for you, readers!

* * *

They made it out of the castle grounds and into the village without further incident, the guards at the gates easily accepting Emma's apologetic smile and a convincingly limp Regina. They walked quietly, arms draped about as the villagers continued to celebrate into the night.

The only time they had ever been this close had been in the fire, and it was incredibly bizarre to Emma to feel Regina actually relax into her touch. She seemed like the kind of Ice Queen that would hate it, especially from someone like Emma and in such a tense situation, and Emma could certainly recall many times the Mayor bristled at someone even approaching her space. But Emma soon remembered how physically demonstrative she was with Henry. Regina always went to hug him, hold his hand, stroke his hair, and she always looked positively crushed when he granted those moments to Emma instead of her, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. It was all the more interesting considering that Cora likely never held her daughter, never comforted her; that Regina, rather like Emma, had never had a mother to kiss her goodnight. In fact, Emma shied away from contact nearly as much, even from those she loved, only recently accepting hugs from Henry with all of the warmth they deserved and still grappling with the affection Mary Marg—Snow—her mother gave.

Yet she recently found herself reaching out for Regina. Maybe it was because she wanted to provide the comfort that the woman needed. That she knew she needed, because deep down, Emma wanted the same thing: for someone to make the effort—break down the walls she had struggled so long to put up. They were the same in that way, reluctant on the outside, but truthfully craving meaningful human touch. And their contact now, weaving along the dusty road, as contrived as it was, had managed to be soothing to them both.

Their journey was largely uninterrupted, with Emma only occasionally having to wave off a concerned mother-type with a smile, allowing her to concentrate on the woman she was supporting, and how she should have started supporting her sooner.

Making it to the edge of town, Emma led Regina behind the shack where they had hidden their clothes, no longer needing the protection of peasant dress, and already missing her leather jacket. Regina immediately returned to her regal self once they were in the clear, separating herself from the blonde's grasp, but not nearly as quickly or forcefully as she could have. Once again, Emma felt the loss of their connection, wondering as they turned away to change back into their modern dress in privacy if she would ever get to hold the Mayor that closely again.

Folding up her own skirts, Emma was going to mention that Regina ought to keep the boots she had taken, considering their long trek back and that she had more than paid for them, but she turned around to see Regina place them carefully underneath a worn wooden bench with her neatly folded borrowed costume on top. She was already fully dressed in her own mayoral suit of armor except for her pumps, which were now dangling from the former mayor's fingertips. Maybe Regina was drunk after all.

It was a welcome sight, Regina without her shoes. Mostly because Emma somehow felt that without them, Regina couldn't hide back in her usual cold exterior. Without them, there was a chance that things between the women really could be different.

In her other hand were their means home, the pouch and the hourglass, once hidden in her peasant wear but having no matching place in her sheath dress, a dress Emma noted was not good for hiding much of anything. Regina held on to them with a force that belied their importance but made no move to leave, as she appeared to be considering her options. Emma reached out her hand.

"Do you want me to keep them in my pocket? No holes, I promise."

Regina cocked her head to the side, her question not an insult, but genuine.

"I suppose I should trust you?"

"I want to get home just as much as you do. They'll be safe, Regina."

Apparently that was enough for the moment because she handed them over the blonde with a sharp nod and a stare that held more threat than most words.

They padded through the field, not needing to run with no carriages left on the main road, no guards left to care. The raucousness from the townsfolk fading with distance, they started out again on the forest path, careful to stay to the side of the road where Regina might walk on the softer moss and leaves.

Their hike had been comfortable, quiet. It was peculiar to be alone with Regina for so long and not have some sort of tension vibrating between them, but whether from the day itself or from being so close to home, the women were silent. Emma couldn't tell where Regina's thoughts lay, but refusing to worry about the technicalities of opening the portal at least for the moment, hers were mostly concerned with the queen, and she often glanced over at her traveling companion, strikingly beautiful in the unusually bright moonlight.

She could even see the pale mottling on Regina's arms, the beginnings of bruises that remembered guiltily came from her, even if it had meant they found the way home. She found herself wishing she could kiss them away, which was certainly not what she was expecting. She couldn't remember ever wanting to kiss away someone's hurt, except for maybe recently, with Henry.

"Just spit it out, Emma. Stop looking at me like I am going to spontaneously combust."

Regina's voice shocked her out of her contemplation, as did the use of her name, still so satisfying to hear from the brunette, and the tone that was equally tempered and teasing as it was irritated.

"I…" Emma considered what excuse she could use for staring but soon gave up. "I just know you're going to get mad."

"Well, I already am, so you have already succeeded." Regina may have said it, and she was certainly annoyed, but the usual fire was not there.

"Can I just ask you something?" Emma did feel bolder than usual, but she still felt the need to tiptoe around the former queen, even without her magic, even without her having control over Henry, even without the threat of harm. Emma was beginning to think her not wanting to upset the brunette had taken on an entirely different meaning.

It was no longer about what would happen to her. It was about what would happen to Regina.

"I mean, you don't have to answer, I…I just really need to ask."

Regina sighed. It was rather unlike the blonde to back away from confrontation—or to ask permission for a question. Considering what she had asked over the course of their day with no thought at all, Regina contemplated just how intrusive this question would manage to be.

"Fine. It hardly could be worse than your constant staring."

"Before…In the bedroom…before—it—happened, I could see your arms."

Regina instantly tensed at the memory. She needed to destroy this, destroy Emma before she got any further, but she was just so tired. And they were so close.

"I thought you had a question, Miss Swan."

Despite Regina's foreboding tone, Emma didn't take nearly as long to reply as she would have thought, her question simply tumbling out.

"Who did that to you?"

The words were quiet, but not filled with the patronizing disgust or pity Regina might have expected. They were curious, thoughtful, and Regina was reminded that perhaps the reason she knew exactly what Emma was talking about was the same reason Emma had known that someone had caused those bruises.

"My mother."

The answer was surprisingly easy, though she had never admitted it to anyone before. Perhaps it was because she was so drained. Perhaps it was because they were in a world that was no longer her own and she felt she could leave her troubles there. Perhaps it was because of the way things tend to surface in the dark when everything seems less real.

Perhaps it was because she found herself growing increasingly connected to this woman who had represented all of her fears; that maybe this blonde with questionable taste and a bad habit of not backing down wasn't so threatening after all.

"She would have hidden them before…they could be seen." For reasons she herself would not have been able to explain, Regina found herself offering more information, needing to disclose the whole truth.

"Not healed, hidden. I was to be reminded of what happened when I tried to run. Unfortunately, she was unavailable." She let out a sad little laugh and looked over at the blonde. She didn't know what exactly she was hoping for, but Emma provided anyway.

"You love her."

It was fact. Understanding. She wasn't asking for excuses or explanation. She knew somehow that Regina was just as conflicted about banishing her mother as she was the abuse she suffered at Cora's hands.

"She is my mother."

There was something about the cool, quiet night air and the twinkling stars and shining moon and Regina's easy openness that had Emma feeling intensely connected to the woman before her. She treasured being willingly let in. Especially when she so completely understood.

"When I was in the system… every family…I mean some were better than others, but every family I went to, even when they were awful, even when I knew that it would suck and that I should stay to myself…I always thought, maybe this could be the one, you know? This family would want me. They'd love me. _Every_ _time_." Emma's gaze had dropped over the course of her admission, unable to acknowledge Regina's presence despite everything the woman had had to reveal, but when she glanced back up, none of the shocks of the day could have prepared her for the incredible compassion radiating from warm brown eyes.

Then Emma said the words Regina couldn't manage to speak.

"It's all about hope, isn't it?"

Both women knew the answer was yes.


	12. Chapter 12

They had continued the rest of the way in silence—no apologies, no bemoaning the past or dreading the future, even if the necessity of finding a way to once again deal with Cora had been raised to the forefront of their minds.

By the time they reached the meadow where they had landed, the moon hung low in the sky, shimmering across the dew that had begun to settle in the grass. Regina was still barefoot, and Emma was amazed at how natural it seemed, a woodland goddess in her home. Other than her clothes, the only thing out of place were the shivers she was clearly trying to suppress, and although Emma started to remove her jacket to offer, she was shot down with a glare straight from the Mayor Mills of less than 24 hours prior. It appeared even new Regina would not accept help willingly. Emma thought that this was something they would have to work on when they got back.

For now, Emma pulled out the pouch and accompanying hourglass from her pocket and presented them to Regina.

"How will this work?"

Regina placed her heels on the ground and somewhat reluctantly stepped back into them. Cora had never allowed her to go about barefoot, not even as a child, and once she was Queen, it was hardly appropriate. But in Storybrooke, believing her mother dead and with a home that was solely her own, she grew to love treading along the hardwood floors, the freedom of it. Out in here the open, in her old home but with no Cora around, with the stars above and the cool night raising the hairs on her arms, feeling the earth beneath her toes had grounded her, oddly enough allowing for a sense of security she hadn't felt since before Daniel's death, riding Rocindante through the fields.

Once again, even her smallest joys were to be short-lived. Dispelling her tenuous hopes for new life in Storybrooke and now with both hands available, she took the objects from Emma. Opening the pouch and removing the gold, she held it in the air between them.

"We merely have to activate it—most likely with our combined magic. The hourglass will lead us back."

Emma took a step in, and looking at Regina, placed her fingertips over the other end of the straw. "So…like last time?"

"Yes."

This was it. This was finally it. Despite the strange sense of apprehension growing in the pit of her stomach, Emma was thrilled to be so close. She tried to focus on what she was holding, on getting back, but even with her best effort, it just didn't feel like it should, and her frustration began to build as she saw that her own incompetence was the only thing standing between her and home. She let go of her end.

"I don't know if I can."

"Don't be ridiculous. Feel…" Anger flashed through Regina's eyes, and Emma watched as a puff of purple smoke appeared, but was amazed when Regina seemed to cut off her own magic, glancing at her hands.

"Regina?"

Silence. Emma didn't know whether something had gone horribly wrong, but she knew she needed answers, and she'd prefer getting them in Storybrooke.

"Regina, what's going on? I need you to help me out here."

At this point, Regina was having a hard time understanding herself. Something had just hit her when she started drawing from her anger—for the first time since before she had crushed her first heart—it hadn't felt right. The inanity of it astounded her, especially when she just needed to convince the Savior of her own power and use it once more to return to their world. But then, as she though about how best to influence Emma, once again Regina found herself needing to provide the whole picture.

"I assumed I would have to teach you magic at some point," she declared softly, looking up to meet Emma's eyes. "Ever since the mine, I assumed. Because, really, I was the only person who could, other than Rumplestiltskin, but in that scenario, I might actually be the lesser of the two evils." She let out a little snicker, though there was no real amusement in it, and thinking of the imp, she quickly reverted to dead seriousness.

"But that devil taught me…and he taught me through anger. Magic is emotion, and the emotion was anger. Brutal, violent anger. That's where my mother draws from, where the Dark One draws from, where I..." She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, how Henry had been so right about her magic. She focused instead on the attentive blonde waiting patiently in front of her.

"I suppose you're not surprised. Magic always comes with a price, and this was part of it. Those without say magic corrupts—in its own way, it does, true, but only in the same manner as other kinds of power. The real corruption, the real price, is the anger. It feeds on itself. And it feels so good. So dreadfully good."

She paused. Discussing her addiction, for lack of a better word, had not been a part of the plan, not that there really was any plan to begin with. It felt so right to confide in Emma even if internally she was fighting it every step of the way. She meant nothing to this woman; revealing information leads to your opponent gaining the advantage; spilling your soul is nothing but weakness. Emma was going to leave her again and take Henry and crush her heart inside her chest without using any magic at all. And yet, Regina couldn't help herself.

"But when you—when we did the location spell, I could tell it wasn't coming from anger, not really, not in the way I used it. I couldn't tell in the mine, perhaps because I was so…drained or because all of our energy was focused on the trigger. Not that that mattered—I was fully prepared to teach you the way I learned, the only way I knew how. Because honestly, it would have been a sweet joy, corrupting Snow's daughter. But this time…I do not feel I should steer you away from what came naturally. I don't know what it is, what it was, but…I want to. How did—tell me what you were feeling."

Emma had to bite her tongue to keep from blurting out the insanity of her teaching Regina something about magic, but she was glad to, because the vulnerability in Regina's eyes was too much to consider. She was, in her own way, asking for help. It was demanding, maybe even slightly clinical, but it was a cover. Regina was asking for her help with the one thing she felt gave her control. The one thing she practically reigned supreme in, the one thing she turned to assuredly for power. Here she was, standing in a field in the magical kingdom in the early hours of the morning staring at a woman she had until recently considered her mortal enemy asking her to teach her a purer kind of magic. A magic she would either only get to experience once as she opened this portal in order to keep her promise to her son, or one that she would have to use against her mother.

And all Emma could think to say was, "You know, Regina, there are other ways you can corrupt me."

She flushed bright red as confusion, shock, and finally amusement rolled across Regina's features, ending with a genuine laugh. Before she knew it, Emma was chuckling too, despite it likely being at her own expense, because she may have been a little loopy from fatigue, but there was no thrill like hearing Regina's laugh. Especially when it had been so unexpected.

"Yes, Miss Swan, I suppose there are. Any particular way you had in mind?" She cocked an eyebrow. She knew she had a certain power over people, women included, though for all their teasing and off-hand remarks she never would have suspected the Sheriff had actually thought about it. She was going to enjoy lording this over her.

"Why don't we get home so you can ask again?" Despite her slip up, Emma wasn't about to lose the upper hand. She knew she wasn't too shabby herself when the situation called for it.

"Though I do remember you saying something about not wanting to know anything about me…we could just forget all about it." Her tone was deep, sensuous. Emma was full-out flirting with Regina, and even as the words came out of her mouth, she couldn't believe it. Not that the former queen wasn't beautiful, attractive, of course she was. And while Emma had predominantly pursued men, that didn't mean she was new to the idea of being with a woman. But this woman? With all of the shit she had put Emma through, all of the evil she had done? Apparently, Emma thought wryly, she had a thing for bad girls.

After everything, after all she had learned in this upside-down day, she now knew that she wanted to get to know this woman, genuinely. She wanted to know all of her.

She had hardly noticed Regina's features turn stony.

"Yes, let's get home so you can forget all about it."

Startled at the bite in her words, Emma broke free from her thoughts.

"Regina?"

Mayor Mills once again presented the strand of gold between them, and commanded, "Focus on your magic."

Now Emma was confused. This was a distinctly different vibe from what had been happening a minute ago.

"But I haven't told you what I felt yet."

"I do not need to know," Regina snapped. "You are the one doing it."

"Regina, stop." Emma needed to get a handle on the situation before things devolved further. She knew their newfound common ground was fragile, but she hadn't expected Regina's walls to go back up so quickly, especially over something as harmless as bad flirting.

"Stop what, Miss Swan? Trying to get home? Or have you grown so accustomed to this land that you would like to stay?"

"Regina, stop. Don't be ridiculous. I was just…" As she began to apologize, it hit her. It wasn't about the flirting. It was about the forgetting. Regina still thought that they would go back and everything would go back to the way it was. Emma would get to walk off into the sunset with Henry and her family, and Regina would be left alone in her cold, empty mansion. Once again, she saw the young girl through the Queen's front. She needed to convince her. She needed to do this the right way.

"I am going to tell you what I felt." She firmly cut off the protest she knew was coming. "I need to tell you what I felt. So you can help me focus." She grabbed the golden straw right next to Regina's hand, their fingers touching, and looked the brunette in the eye.

"I felt…" She struggled to find the words, but Regina remained quiet. "It was a lot of things. Ache, want…belief…apology. Hope…"

It wasn't enough. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to that hidden room, back to the moment when she knew that everything had changed.

"I felt everything you feel when you make a promise you know you'll die before you break. Everything you feel when you're arguing with someone about something that means more to you than they'll ever understand, and you know the words you are practically shouting are the truest they've ever been, and you feel it in the bottom of your soul that if this person would just _listen_ they would see the truth, too." She was beginning to feel the magic vibrating between them, to smell the periwinkle mist filling the air.

"I thought about how desperately we needed to get back to our son. About how this fucked up family that I had found, or had found me, was exactly what I had wished for. About how that family should include the mother of my son. How I needed it to include her, because I've never met someone so compelling, even when she drives me absolutely insane, because she's the toughest, smartest, most infuriatingly beautiful woman, and especially because loves so deeply."

As the vibrations grew stronger, she opened her eyes to expectant brown ones straining to hold back tears.

"But most of all, Regina, most of all, I thought about how that in all this time that I've known I was the Savior, the only time it wasn't a terrible, scary as fuck burden, the only person I ever actually wanted to save…was you."

With a flash of light, the straw dropped to the ground between them, and they gaped as it melded its way into the earth, the ground around it swirling bright green, the physical plane wobbling into magic.

In awe, with hope, looking over at Regina, Emma offered her hand.

"To the future."

With an expression Emma hoped to never forget, Regina accepted, lacing their fingers and grasping tightly.

"To the future."

Together, they jumped.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you so much for your lovely encouragement over the course of this story. I hope you've enjoyed. This is all I have planned for now, though I can't say a sequel is entirely out of the question-I find our heroines too compelling to stop thinking about for very long. Let me know if you'd be interested!


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